Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Networking and Communications published yesterday, which covers 35 of the most important networking technologies. This year, there are four new entries to the hype cycle including White-box switching and Wan Opt as a Service.

Not surprisingly, many of the technologies near the peak are SDN-related, and we have profiles for SDN, SDN apps, OpenFlow, and others. The hype cycle also covers more mainstream enterprise networking technologies like Ethernet Fabrics, ADCs, WOCs, IPv6, etc. In my opinion, if you’re a network decision maker, this is the best single piece of written Gartner research for you. Or, in other words, if you could only read one piece of Gartner research a year (ah the humanity!), this is the one I would recommend.

Coincidentally, Big Switch Networks, an early pioneer in the SDN space, also announced their “Big Cloud Fabric” on Tuesday. The Big Cloud Fabric is a programmable Ethernet fabric built on SDN architectural principals. The solution includes a fabric controller and an OS that can be run on various network switches, including White-Box and Dell. So, to tie this back to the hype cycle, there are many concepts in play here; Ethernet Fabrics, SDN, OpenFlow, SDN applications and network disaggregation/White-Box switching. The Big Switch marketing around the launch is to bring hyperscale networking concepts and economics to the mainstream.

Times are changing in the network world. It’s time to believe some of the hype…

Andrew Lerner
Research Vice President 4 years at Gartner 19 years IT Industry

Andrew Lerner is a Vice President in Gartner Research. He covers enterprise networking, including data center, campus and WAN with a focus on emerging technologies (SDN, SD-WAN, and Intent-based networking). Read Full Bio

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